Paradise
by Ryo Hoshi
Summary: Jareth is convinced by a friend to court Sarah for at least a little before taking her back to the Underground for her 21st birthday. Contains Shakespeare, romance, comedy, and, surprisingly, no darkness. For all the gals out there who have had it prove
1. Prologue [Draft]

Labyrinth, Jareth, Sarah, and Linda all belong to Jim Henson.  
  
This was written mainly because I felt a need to write it... It's also   
something of a break from Gates and my other work for myself. This is   
the draft version of this: I wanted to get some of this one up *before*   
I got dragged to the top of a mountain. In all likelihood, there will   
be a new version of this one up in a week or so and if not then there   
def. will be one before the start of August, depending on how my luck   
with prereaders / beta readers goes. (Feel free to volunteer, folks.)   
There will def. be new versions of all of what's currently up of Gates   
as I'm currently working on correcting formatting errors. (Yes, I'm   
also working on its next chapter, which may get broken up into two...)  
  
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Paradise  
By Ryo Hoshi  
  
Prologue  
  
Not so long ago, and not so far away, a young wife and mother named   
Linda Corbinian Williams wished her daughter away to the goblins. The   
rest went as always. The Goblin King sighed as he looked at the crying   
woman.  
She was a beauty, he had to admit. Her daughter looked like she'd   
eventually match -- and perhaps exceed -- her mother in looks.  
It would be such a shame to turn this one into a goblin, but he   
didn't have a choice. If the child was to stay, she would have to be   
transformed. But if he sent her back to the Aboveground for a while...  
Yes, that would work, and there was nothing that said he   
couldn't... With a slight smile, he cleared his throat. "If you want,   
I can give you your daughter back, give up any power I might have over   
her..." The woman's eyes snapped up, wary. "...until she's   
seven-times-three years old." A temporary return; a new thing,   
something not banned like a permanent, unconditional return of a stake   
lost in the game. And if he was called to account, he could always say   
that it was a conditional return and therefore not a new or banned   
thing.  
Of course, some insurance would be worthwhile, to make sure she   
became the proper sort. He summoned a crystal, and then with a snap of   
his wrist turned it into a slim red-bound volume. On the front was a   
title, Labyrinth. He didn't know its contents, nor did he care. It was   
his creation, and it would serve its purpose.  
With a wave of his hand, the two vanished back home.  
  
Almost fourteen years later, he watched as the girl, Sarah,   
celebrated her victory over him with his own subjects... He knew he   
felt angry at them, for helping her, for celebrating his own defeat.   
But...  
Why had his book told her how to defeat him?  
  
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Okay, folks, comments will be loved, esp. those that tell me about   
anything in this draft that need fixing.  
  
As always: They also get me to write faster. 


	2. Chapter 1 : Brush Up Your Shakespeare [D...

Labyrinth, Jareth, Sarah, and Linda all belong to Jim Henson. A   
Midsummer Night's Dream and The Taming of the Shrew belong to   
Shakespeare. Guess which one that the quoted line & who spoke that line   
& get a cookie. The chapter's title comes from Kiss Me Kate.   
Shushanna's mine, and if you want to borrow her you'll have to ask me.  
  
Look, I uploaded the first chapter's draft too!  
  
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Paradise  
By Ryo Hoshi  
  
Chapter One : Brush Up Your Shakespeare  
  
The Goblin King paced across the carpet in the parlor, almost   
completely ignoring his guest. The tall young woman lounged in one of   
the two chairs in front of the empty fireplace, a small liquor flute in   
her hand almost full of a pale gold-tinted liquid. She sighed, and took   
an elegant sip of her drink. "Jareth, you can't just go up there, claim   
the girl back, and expect her to love you back."  
Jareth stopped, and glared at the woman. They both knew who 'the   
girl' was; the primary disagreement was... "I am not in love with her   
anymore, Shushanna."  
Shushanna smiled to herself, not believing Jareth's words. She had   
known Jareth since they were both small children; she knew him too well   
to think that he had completely given up on Sarah yet.  
Time to take another tack, though.  
"Fine, fine, so you just lust after her... You're not going to   
seduce her that way, either."  
Jareth glared at Shushanna. "What do you suggest, then?"  
Well, she thought, he could have surrendered more gracefully, but   
that'll do. With a flick of her wrist she produced two sheafs of paper.   
A second flick sent them on a graceful arc through the air to Jareth,   
who caught them.  
He read the printing on the covers. "'A Midsummer Night's Dream'?   
'The Taming of the Shrew'? Play-scripts?"  
Shushanna grinned. "Learn the parts highlighted in blue -- if you   
need somebody to read with you, just send me a crystal. Now, if you'll   
excuse me, I'm late for a meeting." Then, in a small shower of glitter   
that quickly faded away, she teleported elsewhere.  
Jareth nodded absent-mindedly to the now empty chair, put down one   
of the two scripts, and started reading from a random page of the other.   
"'Hortensio, peace! thou know'st not gold's effect: Tell me her   
father's name and 'tis enough; For I will board her, though she chide as   
loud As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack.'"  
  
Shushanna smoothed her clothes; they looked normal for on Earth, no   
longer the strangely-cut black satin and leather costume she wore when   
Underground but instead loose blue jeans and a black t-shirt with   
various characters from some anime on it. Her hair was no longer   
hanging loose and controlled only by a steely coronet; now it was pulled   
back in a tight braid.  
She grinned at the mirror that hung on the wall. It was such a   
comfort to be able to leave the Underground and visit the Earth   
regularly and play at being a normal human. She didn't even have to   
worry about funds there; she had long ago set up a system of paperwork   
phantoms for herself. She didn't even have to pay rent on the apartment   
she kept; she herself had commisioned the building it was in almost a   
hundred years ago, and of its five floors she rented out the bottom two   
to some friends -- some elves who had decided that they wished to live   
Aboveground and now ran a coffee shop out of the old storefront.  
The other three floors she claimed for herself, so she'd be able to   
put up any guests that she might have.  
Checking herself once again for anything that might hint that she   
wasn't normally an inhabitant of this realm, and finding nothing amiss   
about her appearance, she walked down the back stairs and went into the   
coffee shop.  
In the back booth sat the two women who were her current   
house-guests; she quickly wove her way through the dimly lit maze of   
chairs and tables, calling out a greeting to the two. "Hello, Linda,   
Sarah! I'm sorry I'm late, I had to talk to a nephew of mine. He's   
going to be here around this time next year and wanted to know if there   
was anything that might be worth doing..."  
Linda Williams smiled at her friend. "Susan, I didn't know you   
were an aunt, you don't look old enough..."  
Shushanna laughed. "He's a little older then me -- he's my eldest   
step-sister's kid. He's got some potential as an actor, so I suggested   
that he join the festival." She looked at Sarah and grinned. "That   
reminds me, Sarah, would you like to act in the festival next year?"  
  
Eventually, the three went up to Shushanna's apartment, the   
conversation still winding along. Finally, around midnight, Sarah went   
off to bed, leaving her mother and 'Susan' alone.  
"Shushanna," Linda said, "Isn't your only nephew the Goblin King?"  
Shushanna sighed. "I should have known you'd have remembered what   
I had told you about my family after...that. Yes, he's my only nephew.   
Please, calm down," she said, noticing that her friend was about to get   
angry at her, "I was the one who convinced him to try this. I didn't   
think you'd like it if he just kidnapped your daughter..."  
"So you're going to let him seduce her?" Linda said, her tone   
making Shushanna wince.  
"What kind of godmother do you think I am?! Besides, you know the   
rules, I told you them after he had decided to let you keep her for a   
while longer when you lost. I've actually got a stronger claim on her.   
Not that he knows about that, yet."  
"You mean he really didn't remember?"  
"That I had introduced you to him back when you were little? I   
think Sarah's the first Abovegrounder that he's remembered clearly for   
more then a few years... She's the first child he's actually given a   
reprieve to, you know."  
"No, you hadn't told me, even when you told everything, after..."  
Shushanna smiled slightly to herself; she hadn't, couldn't tell her   
friend everything. "Yes, I know. But really, you needn't worry about   
Jareth. He's never particularly liked Earth... The only areas I can   
normally get him into are the castle we maintain in England which the   
entire membership of the high court -- which Jareth belongs to, though   
not very willingly -- uses, and that's no place to get used to the   
current human customs."  
"You mean...?"  
"Yes." Shushanna's grin took on a preditory aspect. "He'll be no   
trouble at all for us."  
  
  
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Okay, folks, comments will be loved, esp. those that tell me if I have   
this chapter finished!  
  
Once again: They also get me to write faster. 


End file.
